A soldier stands in front of nationalist housing as the Drumcree parade passes

BBC News Online's Dominic Casciani reports from Drumcree where the seventh year of the dispute passed without violence.

Just for once, the expectation of violence was in another part of the United Kingdom.

After a night of severe rioting in Bradford, nobody needed to see anymore at Drumcree. And they didn't get any.

We will walk with dignity and pride as we have done for so many years

Orange Order address before march

The march passed peacefully as Orangemen sought to send a strong signal to their supporters and the outside world that their cause would be pursued "with pride and in dignity".

In the hours running up to the annual service commemorating those who fell at the Somme, soldiers set about creating barricades and barriers that made the fields around the church resemble a battlefield.

In less than a day they isolated the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road from the rest of Portadown as per the Parades Commission ruling.

The Portadown Orange men would be able to march past the mainly nationalist area - but not through it.

The only presence on Drumcree Hill was a handful of loyalists prepared to brave the drizzle in a tent.

It may have been a horrible night, but they did their best to keep the RUC and Paratroopers awake with a stereo blaring out the national anthem until the early hours.

Morning assembly

Approximately 2,000 Orangemen were expected for the march - but at 8.30am the only person who had turned up at the Carleton St Orange Hall was elderly local resident Mrs McLaughlin.

They've got their usual fortifications. What have we got other than umbrellas?

Portadown Orangeman

Wearing her Sunday best, a bright red coat and hat, she asked the assembled reporters where the Orangemen had got to.

"Ach, we would have been better off staying in bed," she sighed.

But they did turn up, and in some numbers. One of the first on the scene was a man wearing a t-shirt calling for the release of Johnny Adair, the convicted loyalist paramilitary leader.

"Orange heaven, Drumcree Seven" the t-shirt proclaimed, referring to the number of years the dispute has been going.

While the mood was not upbeat, it was certainly calm.

Raising the standard at the Orange Hall

One supporter said: "The Orange Order is very, very proud and I want to see it able to uphold the British standards of justice, freedom and religious tolerance.

"That's why we need a peaceful protest to protect our culture and heritage."

Another local Orangeman was more circumspect.

"The scale of the security presence creates the tense atmosphere," he said.

"They've got their usual fortifications. What have we got other than umbrellas?"

Paul Berry, the 25-year-old DUP assemblyman, became the focus of media attention as he tried to set the tone for the day.

"The Orange Order has always said that if people want to come, they should do so in peace."

So why hasn't the local lodge expressly told paramilitaries to stay away?

"There should be no trouble here. People should come and support the institution and nobody else."

"Pride and dignity"

As the time of the march approached, the public address system told the assembled members to "march with pride and dignity as we have done for so many years."

Defiance on the hill: But calm atmosphere

Flanked by two sword bearers, Portadown District Lodge's standard-bearer raised the Drumcree protest bannerette, the Star of David Accordion Band struck up and the parade moved forward to cheers from the scattering of onlookers.